Seat back adjusting mechanism

Claim 1

A simple and compact mechanism for supporting a seat back in various angular position on a seat cushion, comprising: a substantially planar seat back mounting member adapted to be attached to the seat back; a seat cushiom mounting member adapted to be attached to the seat cushion and with a rearward end portion having an upwardly directed toothed sector thereon; said rearward end portion also having a uniformly circular aperture therein located below the toothed sector; a circular shaft extending through said aperture and dimensioned sufficient to permit rotation therein without body shifting movement; said shaft having an integral cylindrical end portion with its axis offset from the remainder of the shaft, thus forming an eccentric portion thereon; said seat back mounting member having a bore formed therein at the lower end for encircling the integral eccentric end portion; said seat back mounting member further having an elongated opening formed therein above said bore and with an arcuate upper edge configured with a continuously toothed profile for engagement with said upwardly directed toothed sector; the lower end portion of the seat back mounting member which houses said bore being offset from the plane of the toothed portion thereof to simultaneously allow alignment of said toothed portions of the seat back and cushion mounting members as well as the lower end and the eccentric portion of said shaft; an operating lever means attached at one end to said integral eccentric portion with the other end accessible for manual manipulation to rotate the shaft in an unlatching movement whereby the integral eccentric portion thereon is moved upward thus raising said seat back mounting member to disengage said toothed portions to permit subsequent angular adjustments therebetween.